Sweetheart Like You


“Sweetheart Like You” is a song by Bob Dylan that appeared as the second track of his 1983 album Infidels. The song was recorded on April 18, 1983 and released as a single in December 1983, with "Union Sundown" as its B-Side.
"Sweetheart Like You" peaked at #55 on the Billboard Hot 100 on January 28, 1984, staying on the chart for a total of nine weeks. The song also appeared on the ARIA Charts in Australia, reaching #74.

Song

On its face, the song is about "rediscovering an old lover in sordid surroundings"; however, other interpretations have been made, with The New York Times drawing parallels between the song and American military intervention in Central America, while other sources believe Dylan was targeting the song at the Christian church.
In 1983, a video of the song was released, featuring Steve Ripley, Charlie Quintana, Clydie King and Carla Olson. As of 2020, Dylan has never played the song live.

Personnel

In addition to Dylan, the song features Mick Taylor, Mark Knopfler who plays the lead guitar solo, Alan Clark on keyboard, Robbie Shakespeare on bass, and Sly Dunbar on drums.

Reception

Rolling Stone listed the song at #75 on its list of 100 Greatest Bob Dylan Songs, also naming the song one of Dylan's greatest songs of the 1980s. The magazine called "Sweetheart Like You" "the sort of love song only Bob Dylan could write."
The song has received criticism for the lyric "a woman like you should be at home/That's where you belong." In a 1984 interview, Dylan stated that the line did not come across as he had intended, stating "I could easily have changed that line to make it not so overly, uh, tender, you know? But I think the concept still woulda been the same. You see a fine-lookin' woman walking down the street, you start goin', 'Well, what are you doin' on the street? You're so fine, what do you need all this for?'" In The Cambridge Companion to Bob Dylan, Jonathan Lethem notes that "for most listeners the line will be redeemed by both context and presentation."

Other versions

from The Hold Steady covered the song on the Dylan tribute album . The song was also covered by artists such as Rod Stewart, on his album A Spanner in the Works. The song was featured in the play Girl from the North Country.